Kelly Crow does a little math in the Wall Street Journal:

The world’s two chief auction houses, Sotheby’s and Christie’s International PLC, brought in at least $577 million combined during the past two weeks of sales of Impressionist, modern and contemporary art, up from $234 million last February but down from $964 million at similar sales in 2008.

Scott Reyburn gathers this observation:

“Overall the market is buoyant and there’s more energy,” said Glenn Scott Wright, director of the Victoria Miro gallery in London. “When we exhibited at the Art Basel Miami Beach fair in December, we saw hedge fund and banker collectors we hadn’t seen for a year. Their advisers have been in London this week.”

Britain’s Bounce Continues (Wall Street Journal)

Warhol Dollar Sign Snapped Up by Graff in $61.4 Million Auction (Bloomberg)